Eyewitness Testimony

Eyewitness testimony is a situational account of a witness of what is typically a crime or an accident. It is a legal term that essentially describes when a witness or victim is recounting their firsthand experience to another person or to a court. Cognitive and memory research has shown that eyewitness accounts can be influenced and incorrect due to a number of factors such as stress, outside influences such a leading questioning, or misattribution of memory. This possibility of unreliability must be considered as a legal professional or as a juror in order to not punish an innocent person.